![]() Since you're got an infinite amount of time to work with, a quick look at known draenei history can be helpful in determining exactly what your draenei character may or may not have lived through. Keep in mind that 500 years may seem like a lot to us, but to a race that can literally live infinite amounts of time, it's a bare blink of an eye. In the case of the naga - night elves that were magically transformed by an Old God - they don't reach maturity until age 500, and it's unknown how long exactly they live, much like the draenei. If we want to make some comparisons as far as age ranges go, the rule of thumb in the Warcraft RPG source guides seems to indicate the longer the life span, the longer it takes for a character to reach "maturity." Night elves reach maturity at age 110 or so, while other races that may or may not be immortal start a bit later than that. In fact, speculation is about the best shot you've got to go with if you're roleplaying a draenei - the extent of draenic history plus the implied length of their life span gives players an incredible amount of room to work with. It's entirely possible that the effect of simply being in the presence of the naaru for that long could also have extended the life span of the draenei - but this is all, of course, speculation. But the draenei have spent the last 25,000 in the company of those wonderful Light-filled windchimes known as the naaru, bathing in the glow of the Light and learning the paladin arts as well as the art of healing. That said, the draenei race were and are eredar, a race also generally considered immortal. Given Velen's age and then taking Velen's appearance into consideration, Velen could be considered "old" by draenei standards - but he certainly doesn't act like a doddering old man, nor is he incapable of leadership. The leader of the draenei, Prophet Velen, is at least 25,000 years old, predating the existence of the night elves by a good 10,000 years. It has been suggested that the draenei themselves are immortal, and this is not really as out-there an assumption as you'd think. Therefore, we can only estimate approximate ages for draenei using references given in game, comparing them to creatures with similar lifespans. They were written into the Warcraft story after the last of the Warcraft RPG source books came out, leaving a hole as far as referential information for draenei life spans. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no source material for the average draenei lifespan. You think elves are old? Take a gander at the draenei lifetime, and prepare to be overloaded with potential for more roleplay material than you can shake a face tendril at. If the draenei seem out of place on Azeroth, it's because they absolutely are - they aren't even native to the planet Draenor from which their flight and subsequent crash landing on Azeroth originated. Once the draenei were announced, a flurry of speculation as to the race's origins and radical change in appearance appeared, as well as one of the most notorious lore snafus in Warcraft's history. None of this was revealed until the announcement that draenei would be the playable Alliance race in The Burning Crusade. While we mistakenly assumed the draenei always appeared as they do in the Swamp of Sorrows - misshapen, deformed, and a bit ugly - the draenei of the Swamp of Sorrows are actually mutated versions of the original race. The draenei date back to the vanilla days of World of Warcraft - but the draenei of Azeroth as we knew it then were most decidedly not the draenei we know in Azeroth today. Sometimes it's easier to work with certain races as far as timelines go, and sometimes it gets very, very tricky. Have questions about roleplaying, or roleplaying issues? Email me - I'm always open to suggestions! In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
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